U.S. Private Equity Said to Bid for Queiroz Galvao Wind Parks

(Bloomberg) -- First Reserve Corp., the U.S. private equity investment firm, is negotiating the acquisition of wind farms from the Brazilian energy company Queiroz Galvao Energia, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

First Reserve has submitted an offer and a deal will probably be concluded soon, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter isn’t public. Queiroz Galvao Energia has six wind complexes in northeastern Brazil with a total 759 megawatts of capacity already operating or under construction, according to its website. Representatives for First Reserve and Queiroz Galvao didn’t answer requests of comment.

The Brazilian conglomerate Queiroz Galvao SA has been trying to sell its energy assets at least since 2015, when Brazil was roiled by the so-called Car Wash corruption investigation. The former president of Queiroz Galvao’s construction unit, Ildefonso Colares Filho, was first arrested in 2014, facing charges including money laundering.

Banco Santander Brasil SA is Queiroz Galvao Energia’s advisor in the deal, according to one of the sources. First Reserve Corp. has two energy-infrastructure funds that oversee $3.7 billion in capital. In February, the private equity firm agreed to sell the funds to BlackRock Inc., the world’s biggest asset manager. The transaction is expected to close by the end of June. Santander didn’t reply to an email seeking comment.

To contact the reporters on this story: Vanessa Dezem in Sao Paulo at vdezem@bloomberg.net, Cristiane Lucchesi in Sao Paulo at clucchesi5@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net, Susan Warren, Mike Jeffers